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Step 1
Do not plant bamboo unless you are aware of how it grows. It is a rampant grower, choking out everything in its way. It needs sunshine and water and will continue to grow and spread as time passes.
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Step 2
Know your plant. It is not a bunch of plants; rather, it's one plant that keeps sending out new rhizomes, which are underground roots that lay sideways under the surface of the soil. Each of these rhizomes will send up new shoots. Since they spread under the surface of the soil, it is not enough to cut or mow the bamboo shoots, unless you cut the whole bunch consistently until no new growth emerges.
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Step 3
Plant a barrier to keep the runners from spreading into areas that you do not want bamboo. Generally, about 2 feet under ground and 3 to 4 inches above ground is enough to stop the growth, especially when the barrier is slanted outwards away from the bamboo stand. You can use plastic landscape barriers, bricks or metal sheeting, anything that will stop the rhizomes. Ponds and streams will stop the spread of bamboo. Because of this, bamboo is an effective barrier on one side of a stream as it will grow in so thick that only small animals will be able to get through.
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Step 4
Cut down the whole stand if you want to remove the bamboo from your yard. You will need to do it for a whole growing season to rob the rhizomes of sunshine and therefore nutrients for growth. As soon as you allow a few shoots to spring up, the growing process will start again. Herbicides are somewhat effective if used consistently. Just remember that since the stand is one plant, if you poison your side of the fence, your neighbor’s growth may also die.
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Step 5
Dig it up. If you take the time to dig up all the rhizomes, you will not have any new runners. However, you will have to be very diligent to get all of the rhizomes, or new shoots will pop up. Cut the stand down first with a hedge trimmer or sharp and sturdy garden shears. You will have to go down quite a ways to find all the rhizomes.
